Skyfire Is Awesome
While I still maintain that more web sites need mobile-specific versions, there remain plenty of web sites I’d like to use while mobile that just aren’t and never will be designed for mobile devices. I thought Mobile Safari (and other WebKit browsers) were the best for browsing on smartphones, but I’m not so sure anymore. I downloaded Skyfire a month or two ago, but didn’t really play with it much. I tried it again yesterday and today, and I’m sold on it. Despite my phone having a screen measuring only 2.4” and a resolution of only 320x240, browsing any web site is amazingly usable. Web sites using Flash, Silverlight, or anything else work perfectly, with full video and audio.
The only downside I can see is that all data is routed through Skyfire’s servers, so I wouldn’t want to use this for most any web site where you’d be entering user names or passwords, though many would say I’m overly paranoid when it comes to security. But when this single application makes my iPod touch obsolete for my purposes, I can put up with that.
All in all, my nearly two-year-old phone now competes favorably with anything out there for my needs. The things I’m missing now require that I give up things I already have in order to get them:
- Push e-mail via IMAP IDLE (I’d have to give up two-way sync and folder support, or pay $30 for an application on a BlackBerry, and a decent physical keyboard on anything else)
- Decent music player (the iPhone, Pre, and Android phones would qualify here, and again, I’ve yet to see a good physical keyboard on any of these)
- Less overall lag (my iPod Touch is better than my Q9c, but not by much)
As much as I like a lot of the newer hardware, it’s hard to justify switching when the newer stuff really doesn’t do a whole lot better than what you already have. Especially when you’re poor, hah.
